Scotland Yard: Sex crimes involving date apps Tinder, Grindr climb in record year offences

Stian Alexander
The Sun
Thu, 03 Nov 2016 04:22 UTC

© The Week

The Met issued the figure as it warned the 2016 total is likely to top 100 — up from 74 last year. In all, 187 London crimes were linked to the dating apps in the first half of the year. That means the total number of offences this year looks set to top 350, close to the 2015 total of 317. They included almost 100 incidents of violence, plus robberies and thefts.

Tinder launched in 2012 — three years after gay version Grindr. The Met saw just 18 crimes linked to the apps that year, four of them sex offences.

By 2015, however, this has rocketed to 317 offences, with 180 allegations of violence, 74 sex attacks, 26 thefts, seven robberies, seven allegations of criminal damage, six burglaries and 17 'other offences'.

The total number of crimes this year represents a 2,000 per cent rise since 2012.

Comment: Another report, combining statistics from England and Wales, states crimes connected to the two apps ballooned sevenfold from 55 in 2013 to 412 in 2015, obtained under Freedom of Information Act. These allegations of violence included grooming, rape, sexual exploitation of children and sextortion. Tinder alone is advertised as responsible for ten billion connections and climbing.